Research
Of white and blue painted talc sculptée. Each oval relief is centered by a white painted naturalistically modeled floral spray, on a greyish-blue ground. The molded wood frames painted as faux oak. Each fitted with an oval convex protective glass.
These unusual, exquisitely detailed reliefs are in a type of medium referred to in late-eighteenth century France as ‘talc sculptée.’ It is assumed that the term indicates that it is a very finely grained gesso that lent itself to carving, as opposed to a molded relief. The recently rediscovered microcarver Jean-Antoine Boichard (1723–1802) exhibited what were probably very similar reliefs in the same medium at the Exposition du Colisée in 1776 described as “a bouquet of flowers in a vase, the whole modeled in talc.”
Full research report available on request.